Route 66

This past month my mom would’ve turned 66 years old. Truthfully, I don’t visit my mother’s gravesite that often but I think about her all the time. My thoughts about my mom haven’t lessened over the years. On the contrary, they’ve only grown as I enter into different life stages. As you get older, your appreciation for your parents grows, but when you start having your own children the appreciation takes a leap to a whole other level. You think to yourself, “How did they ever do this?” I certainly feel that way, and my baby girl is only four months old. Plus, my wife does most of the work.

When my mom first went home to be with the Lord, I never really gave much thought to the question, “I wonder if she knows what’s going on here on earth?” because she was in the presence of Jesus and probably didn’t care. As more time passes, I do wonder about that question more and more. Specifically, I think to myself, “I wonder if she knows I’m a teacher?” because that’s the career she always wanted for me. “I wonder if she knows I married someone she would absolutely love?” “I wonder if she knows I have a child?” “I wonder if she knows the Lakers got Dwight Howard?” “Would she be mad we didn’t hire Phil Jackson?” Yes. These are the things I think more about as time passes.

Upon reflection, I can only conclude that you can never show your parents enough appreciation. There’s a limited amount of time we have but we don’t live that way. We often live in a way where we think there’s an eternity before our “due date” so we put things off and approach life with the “I’ll get to that later” mentality. It’s just in our nature to procrastinate. Why do you think we are most productive when we have deadlines and the least productive when we have the most time? We’re always complaining about not having enough time. Enough time for what exactly? When we desire “more time” it usually doesn’t involve deepening our relationships. It usually means more time to get more stuff done. When was the last time we thought, “I should call my parents and let them know how much I love them just because”? How much do you think that would mean to your parents? How much do you think that would mean to you if your child called you in their adult years and voiced their love and appreciation?

My mom spent her time praying for everyone she could. She prayed for others to come to know Christ, especially Thai people. She prayed I would find a wife and called me practically every day to see if I had made progress. She spent time serving her community, drove around and picked people up for Bible study, and attended church several times a week. She sure was an example to me.

Recently, I’ve been thinking how she would be as a grandmother to Joelle. My mom would probably be over the house every day until eventually I would have to tell her to stop coming or I’d let the dog loose on her. Without fail, every time she would visit, she would come bearing gifts for little Joelle to the point where I would become jealous and start demanding she buy me a new pair of Kobe(s).

Often, when I reflect on my relationship with my mom, I do have some regrets. I wish I showed her how much I felt loved by her. Aren’t that what most parents want for their children, that their children know they’re loved? The wonderful life I have now is all God’s doing but my mom was the vehicle by which He chose to bless me. She sacrificed much of her life in order for my sister and me to have a better life, but she never saw the fruit of her labor in the form of our current families. She would absolutely love being a grandma and even happier undoing the discipline we teach our kids by spoiling them rotten. Even though I can’t tell or show her how much I appreciated everything she had done for me, the least I can do is to provide the same kind of love and care for my family. I’m sure that’s what she would’ve wanted.

A Night At The Staples Center

November 27, 1916 was Chick Hearn’s birthday. If you don’t know who Chick was click here.
Basically, he was a legend. For us old-timers who grew up listening to him announce Laker games, it’s still a little weird to not hear his voice during Laker games. Last night at the game, the Laker organization decided to honor him by passing out bobbleheads of Chick (it’s my first bobblehead).

No matter how many games I attend, I walk up to the entrance at the Staples Center with eager anticipation. I already know how they do the introduction of the starting lineup but I hate missing it and want to see every time. Okay, so we lost the game to a Pacers team missing one of their best players (Danny Granger). Kobe had the flu but found the strength to drop 40pts and grab 10 rebounds and we still lost. The lost makes us 7-8 and Laker Nation, in typical fashion, is freaked out and demanding Pau Gasol be traded to improve the team. I just feel a need to address Laker Nation with our team’s current state (especially for you who have a cable company that hasn’t struck a deal with Time Warner Cable yet).

Yes the team looked awful last night and has looked awful overall in this first month of the season. The expectations were high when we got Dwight Howard and Steve Nash during the summer for a broken Bynum and some measly draft picks we never use anyway. So let me address some things to help calm down my fellow Laker brethren.

The Bench

The bench is awful!!! Or at least that’s what everyone has been saying. I get it. They’re an easy target for the media and the fans. But let’s take a closer look.

Jodie Meeks was signed to provide some outside shooting but currently has an atrocious PER of 7.31 (the league average is 15) and is only shooting 31% from the field overall. Last night he came in the 2nd quarter and played a measly 3 minutes and they ran zero plays for him. Why are you going to bring in a shooter and not try to get him some shots? D’Antoni started playing Meeks with Kobe in order to open up more shots for him, which was working. However, what happens when Kobe needs to sit and Meeks takes his place? If you don’t run plays for him or set some screens he’s not going to do much for you offensively. Furthermore, if you’re playing him 3 minutes at a time you’re not building his conference much either. Meeks will be fine once Nash gets back because they’ll be another play-making guard on the floor at all times whether it’s Kobe or Nash. In addition, we’re going to need him if we’re going to make a run in the playoffs so it’s imperative we get him going and Nash will do that.

Jordan Hill is a high-energy guy who is quietly having a solid season. He’s far and away our best bench player. Hill rebounds like crazy and can make short-range Js. I would’ve loved if we kept Matt Barns and have those two play the 3 and 4 for our 2nd unit and just bring monster energy because we are sorely lacking in that department. Yet D’Antoni doesn’t play him much because Hill fell out of favor with him while they were in New York. D’Antoni needs to get over it and I believe he will.

Antawn Jamison – much was made about signing Jamison because “We finally have some bench scoring!” Truthfully, I didn’t expect much from him this year. Sure he had a couple of great games in Memphis and at Dallas. But too much was made about him averaging 17pts per game last year in Cleveland. He played 33 minutes per game on a crappy team jacking up 16 shot attempts per game but only shooting 40% from the field overall. There’s no way he’s getting that type of playing time here and he’ll be lucky to get 16 shot attempts in a month with Kobe/Dwight/Pau on the team. It’s also strange both Mike Brown and D’Antoni play him at the 3 instead of using him as a stretch-4. The two games against Memphis and Dallas last week he shot a sizzling 63% from the field and averaged 17.5 pts and 11 rebounds. Did you know what position he played? You guessed it . . . stretch-4. This isn’t rocket science.

Darius Morris is a nice young player. You might look at his awful PER 8.43 and simply write him off. Yes, he’s done some foolish things on the court. Here’s the different between using Morris as the back-up PG instead of Steve Blake when Nash gets back. With young players they’re going to make mistakes but they’ll learn from it and get better. Confidence is always the key for young players. Steve Blake is who he is. When he makes a mistake he’s not going to improve from it. He’s already hit ceiling as a player and is already declining. Why not let the young guy develop? He’s already a better defender than Blake and we could use some youth on this team.

Pau Gasol

Laker Nation wants him traded (what else is new?). It’s been recent revealed Pau has been playing with tendinitis in both knees thanks to Mike Brown's long practices. If you’ve ever had tendinitis anywhere on your body you know it’s painful. This explains his lack of aggression on the court. If you watch him run you could see it’s painful for him. I’m not making excuses for him it’s just a reality of his physical condition. While D’Antoni was in New York he drove Amar’e Stoudemire to the ground so I’m a little worried he’ll do the same with the starters here in LA.

I love Pau. He helped us win two titles. I know he’s one of the most talented big-man in the league, which makes his inconsistent play maddening. But I’m not ready to trade him. Before thinking about that I would consider moving him to the bench as a back-up center. He can’t guard stretch-4(s) and the league is filled with them now. Pau needs the ball in the post and it’s frustrating watching one of the best post players tip-toeing around the perimeter wondering what to do and jacking up 3s because, well, that’s all he could do.

If he were to come off the bench as a back-up center we could play the offense through him and he could get it in the post, which does 3 things for us. First, Pau will be more effective getting the ball closer to the basket. He’s not getting it in the post with Dwight on the floor. Second, he would strengthen the bench and open up everything for everyone else, Meeks would benefit from this. Finally, reducing Pau’s minutes would allow him to heal and keep him fresh for the playoffs. Furthermore, what back-up center in this league could contend with Pau? I’m not ready to trade him. What are we going to get back anyway? He still has $38.3M left on his contract. Who’s taking him?

Of course the media will make it look like a demotion but Pau shouldn’t take it that way. He’d be free to play more to his strengths instead of being exploded for his weaknesses.

Conclusion

There are some legitimate concerns with the team. We still have to wash the Mike Brown stench off of us. I’m also worried about D’Antoni is playing the starters way too many minutes and his inability to think outside the box (moving Pau to the bench, playing Jordan Hill more, not playing Jamison at the 3, etc). But overall, the season doesn’t really start until we get Nash back. I could totally see us have a 17-3 run over 20 games late in the season to grab the #2 seed in the West. Will we win the title? That’s still a question mark but despite the current state of the team, I’m confident will finish the season with a better product that's currently on the floor.

Becky’s Wedding

So Becky got married. I don’t believe it either. It’s not because she’s unattractive. On the contrary, she’s a shorter version of my gorgeous wife. There are two things I just want to point out. First, to me, Becky didn’t seem ready for a commitment like marriage. Before she started dating her husband, Josiah, she had been in a short relationship. People get in and out of relationships all the time, so that’s not a big deal. However, the issue with this particular relationship was that you could smell the stench of horse feces off of this guy a mile away, and she didn’t pick up on it. In her defense, none of the other family members did either. Maybe it was because he was white and white people just trust other white people. Whatever. (Also in her defense, she wasn’t the first person, nor will she be the last, to have one of those, “what was I thinking?” relationships- myself included).

Second, I was the only person who called the guy’s bluff. You know the thing that makes Becky really upset? It wasn’t about the relationship not working out, but that I was absolutely right from day one. It burns her, and I enjoy that.

So you could imagine when she started dating Josiah about 20 minutes after her relationship ended with this “other guy,” I naturally had some reservations. Interestingly enough, he was also white. And you know what? That’s right, you guessed it; the family immediately embraced him. Did anyone ask for my opinion? Of course not, I’ve only had a 100% track record. So what do I know?

I don’t know Josiah all that well, but I did have one conversation with him. And you know what? That’s all it took for him to earn my approval (not that anyone was asking for it). The conversation was in stark contrast when compared to the “other guy.” I saw genuine character in both what he was communicating and the way in which he was communicating it. He had clear purpose about what he wanted to do with his life and articulated his vision like a man who actually had given it some thought. The conversation was pleasant and refreshing. As long as he remembers he’s son-in-law #2 things should be fine.

Fast forward to the wedding day: Josiah and Becky decided to have their wedding reception the same place we had our wedding. I remember it like it was yesterday. My wife and I had a nice swing dancing routine for our first dance because we didn’t want the 7-minute slow song hug that starts getting awkward after 2-mintues. Each of my groomsmen gave an excellent speech, and Becky had an epic emotional meltdown before anyone even handed her the microphone. It was good memories all around.

Now I’m sitting at my table enjoying the moment holding my baby girl while I watch my wife give the wedding toast (she did an excellent job). Then it hits me, I have a child and my wife’s little sister is becoming a woman right before my eyes. All of these memories of Becky start flooding into my mind. Like the first time I picked up Katie for a date and saw Becky who basically looked like a smaller version of Katie with braces and the raspy voice of person whose been smoking for 40 years. I also thought of all the immature rants and emotional meltdowns that didn’t involve having to give a wedding speech. I remember hearing all her complaints about things that were insignificant and wondering if she would ever “get it.”

Flashing back to my table at the reception: Becky was a beautiful bride and looked like the woman she had grown into. My in-laws never had a doubt she would someday “get it.” Maybe that’s the kind of unconditional love and patience I’ll need to give my daughter. Maybe kids from strong Christian families should be given the same amount of grace as those who grew up in broken homes. Maybe maturity can’t be rushed but only nurtured, like it was for me. Maybe there’s a lesson in all of this for me.

Anyway, there is a sense of excitement I feel for my sister-in-law. There’s also a genuine happiness that she found a good man (even though nobody asked for my opinion). Perhaps the most exciting aspect of it all… She’s going to be stationed in Japan for 3 years and the prospect of Becky in a foreign country should give way to plenty of source material for comedic relief.

Selling Out & Buying In – Time Warner Cable

I know I promised a blog on Becky’s wedding (I’m actually half way through
it) but I have to interrupt the broadcast for this important announcement. To my
Laker Brethrens (and a few sisters): I realize that when the Lakers made the
announcement that they had struck a deal with Time Warner Cable for exclusive
rights everyone got pretty upset (me included) because it meant we wouldn’t be
able to watch the Lakers without cable.

I, like my fellow Laker Nation, couldn’t believe the Dr. Buss “sold out.” I
mean, what did he need the extra money for anyway? He’s Dr. Buss!!! Here’s the
deal though, with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement and the harder luxury
tax penalties for going over the salary cap in the NBA, Dr. Buss needed another
source of income to both make a profit AND stay relevant. For those of you who
don’t know about the new luxury tax penalties, the Lakers are projected to pay $30
million in taxes alone this year and a whopping $85 million if they keep the same
payroll next year. In addition, in order to help the small-market teams, the NBA will
implement a new revenue sharing plan in which the teams who make a profit will
have to share that profit with teams losing money to help balance the books
(socialism). That will also cut into the Lakers profit.

So here’s where Time Warner Cable comes in. The current deal with TWC is
for 20 years at an estimated $3 Billion. That’s right BILLION!!! A closer look at the
contract reveals that there are annual raises that bring the deal closer to $3.6
Billion. That’s right BILLION!!! Furthermore, the Lakers have an option to extend
the deal to 25 years, which would bring the total to $5 Billion. That’s right
BILLION!!!

If you were Dr. Buss would you say “no” to a potential $5 BILLION? The
Lakers know you need to spend money in order to acquire top talent. Last year, the
Lakers looked at the luxury tax situation last summer and went into cost-cutting
mode, basically giving away Lamar Odom. However, with the TWC contract kicking
in, they looked at the luxury tax situation again, decided to gave it a middle finger,
and traded for two-time MVP Steve Nash and three-time Defensive Player of the
Year Dwight Howard. If the TWC contract gave to the Lakers the guts to say, “Taxes
be damned” and enter into “win-now” mode, then I’m all for Dr. Buss “selling out”
the fan base.

Despite the enthusiasm for this year’s team the question remains, “How in
the world are we going to actually watch the team?” I’ve been milking my in-laws
for their cable for years, so I hated the thought of paying for it myself. But even the in laws aren’t a reliable option at this point. They don’t have TWC. TWC is in the middle of negotiating with other cable companies in order to carry the Lakers.

However, with the Nash/Howard trade, TWC has all the leverage and is probably
playing hardball. Opening night is 10 days away and a deal hasn’t been made yet. It
will probably go down to the wire. In the meantime, though, my father in law’s DISH
won’t do us any good. Plus, my wife said something about how late nights at her
parents’ house two or three times a week might not be good for Joelle. As a father, I
fail to see how anything related to watching the Lakers could be bad for my
daughter, but I won’t argue with my wife on this one.

Now as many of you know, I am currently working on my financial planning
certificate. This work has required quite a bit of time online to complete
coursework and classes. We’ve had AT&T Internet service for a while now. It’s
always been awful, but it seems to have become progressively worse. Since it was
cheap, we didn’t complain too much. That’s over, though. I now need more reliable
internet in order to do my school work. My wife looked around and you know
which company was the only one who serviced our area? . . . you guessed it – Time
Warner Cable! So being the conscientious student that I am, and wanting to care for
my daughter’s scheduling needs, I told my wife our only option was to switch our
internet to Time Warner Cable . . . and while we’re at it we might as well get the
cable TV as well. (I guess my in-laws will be milking us for cable now.) So come on
over and join us for a game or two… I want to feel like money is being well spent,
and there’s nothing like sharing good fellowship, good food, and good basketball.

The Child Rises – Part 3

For Part II Click Here.


I promised you I would write about The Jammer’s Philosophy on Parenthood. Honestly, I simply don’t have one. Before you get disappointed, just bear with me. Any parent who says they have a comprehensive philosophy towards parenthood, I’m convinced is full of it. No one truly knows exactly how he or she will do things with their child. They only have ideas of what they’ll do. But ideas and principles are extremely abstract and once the child actually arrives, all bets are off.

I’ve seen some godly people have miniature a-holes for children. I’ve also seen young people come from the most difficult types of backgrounds and home lives yet they turn out to be some of the most outstanding individuals I’ve ever met. As a result, I’m not sure how much “parenting” is really an influence. In the end, like in all things, it’s all God’s grace.

Of course that doesn’t excuse me from the responsibility of attempting to be the best father I can possibly be (I wish it did). So here are some of my half-baked ideas of parenting. I know it’ll almost certainly be in a constant state of flux, but I don’t mind it. It gives me full deniability.

Besides, I’m a guy who saw Scarface at the age of five. When I started Kindergarten, I didn’t know how to spell my name but I knew what a Cuban drug cartel was and the phrase “Say hello to my little friend.” I’m going to need some deniability.

School:

I might offend some readers here, but first, remember that it’s only my humble opinion. Second, if you were easily offended you wouldn’t be reading my blog to begin with so let’s just move on. I know it’s popular among Christians to “home-school” their child. It’s a form of “protecting them from the world.” Also some of my most respected elders from my church home-school their children. However, I don’t think we’re going to home school Joelle and it isn’t a result of the stereotype that Christian home-schoolers end up socially awkward, riding unicycles barefooted, dress up like Wizards, Elves, and Star War characters and attend Comic Con (although that may be true).

I just don’t want my child to miss out on all the opportunities in the public school system (e.g., basketball, influence on non-believers, experiencing real temptation but resisting, etc.). Am I worried my daughter might get hurt or negatively influenced? Of course I am. But I’m not going to hide her from it but teach her to confront it the way Ra’s al Ghul taught Bruce Wayne to confront his fear in Batman Begins.

Grades:

Graduating High School was a complete miracle for me. Actually, I think my teachers passed me because they didn’t want to deal with me anymore. I’ll take it. So if my daughter comes home with bad grades, who am I do tell her she should do better? I’ll defer to her mother for that. Since she has half of my wife’s DNA this shouldn’t be an issue. Although if you take my F-average and my wife’s A-average do you only get a C-average kid? I would be fine with that. That’s what I wish I had but my wife might have a problem with it. We’ll see what happens.

Boys:

Never! I would post a clip from Bad Boys II but my editor (aka. My wife) wouldn't let me because of the offensive language (you were warned). Moving on.

Sports:

After getting over my initial disappointment with having a girl I started looking at some of the positives, one of them being sports. I don’t feel the pressure of getting her to play basketball. Actually, I don’t even care if she wants to play or not, but she’s not allowed to be a cheerleader. However, if she picks something like golf or soccer I’ll be bored out of my mind watching her play and I won’t even try and hide it. I’ll just be streaming Lakers games on my iphone.

Music:

I’ll certainly expose her to musical instruments (e.g., the piano) and see where it leads. I’ve always imagined my daughter really taking music seriously and leading worship at church someday, although if that doesn’t happen, it wouldn’t bother me. There’s no pressure at all.

Again, these are only half-baked ideas. My daughter has half of my DNA so I can assure you she’ll have some of her own ideas. Some of the ideas may cause me to bang my head against the wall but isn’t that a part of parenting?

On a special note, I find it absolutely amazing how much I love my daughter. She wasn’t even here two months ago. I catch myself thinking about her throughout the day wishing I were by her side. It’s like falling in love all over again. And if I were man enough to admit it, I would admit I sometimes get emotional just looking at pictures of her. Since I’m not man enough to admit, that doesn’t happen. I remember being single and watching screaming children and thought, “Why would I want one of those?” I had parents tell me parenthood is difficult but it’s worth it. My response was always, “Whatever.” Now that I have a child of my own I “get it.”

(Cutting to: Parents nodding in agreement)

I didn’t think I was even capable of loving a child at all, but life is always changing and sometimes you change with it and in this case, it’s for the better.


Stay tuned next week for Becky’s Wedding blog!!!

The Dark Night – Part 2

For Part 1 click here.

The first night Joelle got home, she screamed, cried and dropped baby F-bombs most of the night. The doctors said this would happen because of the traumatic experience of exiting the womb. Even though the doctors warned us, it didn’t make the dark night any easier (sorry, I didn’t know how else to work in the title).

It’s been six weeks since little Joelle Penny Jamreonvit arrived into our lives. I’m excited to see where the journey of parenthood takes us. I’ve been asked several times, “How’s it feel to be a father?” or a question of the same variety. It’s interesting because I don’t know how to answer that question in just a tweet or two. So here’s me attempting to answer that question with a little more than a tweet.

If you’ve been following my blog, you know my background was a little rough to say the least. I never really thought about and dreamed of having children like most people. I just wanted to survive myself. Why in the world would I spend time thinking about providing for other people when I was just getting by myself? If you were to have told me when I was in college, “We’ll give you a million dollars to NOT have children” I would’ve said, “You outbid yourself. I would’ve taken $50.”

When I found out our baby was going to be a girl, I was initially disappointed because, well, how do I relate with a girl? Having grown up without a father, I now know exactly what I was lacking as a child and all the issues they caused once I got older. As a result, I felt confident knowing exactly what to provide for a son. A girl, however, felt like a whole different ball game. Now what?

Once Joelle was born all that stuff didn’t really matter to me anymore. The abstraction of it all was gone. It went from being the “idea of parenthood” to “Oh Sh**! She’s here!” My background felt nonexistent. I didn’t care what gender the baby was. I was simply grateful she was healthy, my wife was okay, and that we had so much support from friends and family. So do I feel any different? The short answer is, “No.” I still have bills to pay and life is still happening. The long answer is “I’ve been more reflective on issues I hardly reflect on.” For example, I’ve thought much more about issues like child neglect, abortion, and the philosophy of parenting. My conclusions are these: 1) It takes an evil person to neglect your own child, 2) abortion is evil and 3) I don’t yet have a philosophy on parenting (I’ll save this one for part 3). However, if you’re curious, this was my old one: click here.


My role as a man has certainly expanded, and I embrace that responsibility. I know this flies in the face of my motto “Avoid responsibility whenever possible” but child neglect isn’t an option. My wife told me last night how much she appreciated how I’ve embraced fatherhood (she was a little nervous about this, I guess). In her words, I’ve been tender and patient with Joelle and even more helpful around the house. Things have been coming naturally, and I haven’t really thought about “What do to” much at all (Unless it’s time to change the diaper… then I make like a ninja and disappear.) Joelle is still a baby, so it’s not all that complicated at this point. She eats, sleeps and fills her diaper with regularity. The true challenge begins when she can start thinking for herself and actually drop real F-bombs. For now, I’m just enjoying this moment.

In addition, watching my wife tend to Joelle makes me love her even more. She’s an amazing mother. It’s interesting how that all indirectly works. She’s not taking care of me directly when she’s caring for Joelle, or vice versa, but as we fulfill our responsibilities as mother and father we grow closer to each other. That’s probably been the biggest surprise in this whole “having children” thing.

Part 3 will be posted next week and it will be The Jammer’s Philosophy of Rising Children.

Labor Day Begins - Part 1

July 20th was fast approaching. It was Joelle’s due date. She was going to be our first child, so you know there was great anticipation not only from my wife but also from everyone in our lives. I was asked almost daily, “How’s your wife doing?” I loved that so many people cared. I was a little worried because it was the same day The Dark Knight Rises was coming out, and I didn’t want to miss it. Thankfully, my daughter was late so I was able to catch the movie on opening weekend. That was nice of her. However, July 20th came and went. Then a day became another day and then another and soon it became a week.

My wife hardly complains about anything, so when she started complaining about being pregnant for so long I knew it was getting tough on her. She started having contractions regularly on Monday the 23rd. Her contractions were strong but not strong enough to where it was “Baby Time.” That’s the worst place you could be in, that “in between” stage where you’re in constant pain but nothing is really progressing. That went on for two days until the doctor decided to induce her. We were told to report to the hospital on Wednesday night at 8 pm.

We checked in and began the process of…waiting. We figured that this would be the case, so we had come prepared. Our last stop on the way to the hospital was CVS. I had to make sure that I was nutritionally prepared for the event (i.e. sugar). In the hospital room, we got settled in and began watching season two of The Mentalist. I was comfortable and enjoying the show, but then the nurses came in and suggested to my wife that she walk the hallway in an attempt to speed along the labor. It only took one trip down the hallway for her to start complaining about the man’s role in child-bearing or lack thereof. I would’ve tried to comfort her but I was too busy enjoying a peanut butter snickers bar. I would have shared some, but she wasn’t allowed to have anything but ice chips. After several trips up and down the hallway, I got extremely bored and asked if we could go back to the room and finish season two of The Mentalist. My wife didn’t want to because she was determined to induce naturally.

After several more trips up and down the hallway, I started doing lunges just to stay engaged. The nurses looked at me like I was nuts but really, I was just bored out of my mind. Finally, when my wife gave up, we went back into the room. After we finished the last couple of episodes there was still no sign of little Joelle coming. Naturally my wife became frustrated and the pain wouldn’t stop. The nurses would come in every couple of hours to check on her. I know this because they were extremely loud every time they came in and woke me up from my comfortable sleep. I felt like telling them, “Could you please keep it down? I’m trying to sleep!”

By about 9 am in the morning, the pain and fatigue had simply become unbearable and Joelle wasn’t any closer to coming, so my wife decided to take the epidural shot- at least that’s what she told me because I was asleep when it happened. Finally, at about 3:30 pm, she was ready to go! The nurses mentioned it was getting close but I was half asleep so I couldn’t remember.

This is the moment I thought to myself, “Maybe I should’ve taken some of those birthing classes?” Then I reminded myself how much they cost and felt better immediately. I mean why should I take those classes when there is a team of professional nurses around making sure everything goes according to plan? I would only get in the way. If you’re wondering if I contributed anything to the birthing process, I did encourage her to “PUUUSSSSSSHHH!”

I had several people tell me not to faint and that one of the best ways to stay conscience was to not look down. I was pretty good at that until the very end. The doctor said, “She’s almost here!” My wife was exhausted by then so the doctor told her to reach down and feel her head. I thought, “Wait! Her head is down there?” I had to look myself and lemma tell ya, when they say don’t look down that’s probably a wise thing to do. I did manage to stay conscience and pretend I wasn’t completely grossed out. Once Katie felt her little hairy head, she found the inspiration to give it one last push and “POP!” came little Joelle at 4:15 pm.

No I didn’t cry. I did, however, cry at her first ultrasound and felt like that was enough crying. We had family and some friends visit to see the baby. It was fun to see everyone. I guess it’s a pretty big deal to have a baby. I had no idea. I would post a couple of comments and a few pictures on Facebook and immediately received a million “likes” and comments.

So let’s recap. Joelle was a week late, so we were all wondering what was going on. But as a result of her being a week late, I got to see The Dark Knight Rises the day it opened. The Lakers finished a trade for Steve Nash and the Dwight Howard trade rumors had died down. I was able to give my undivided attention to my wife and first child. A couple of weeks after Joelle was born we got Dwight Howard!!! It was the perfect storm for me. If having a child means we get two all-stars, then I’m ready to have another one again next summer.

If you’re looking for more my emotional reaction you’ll have to wait for Part 2 next week.